Hello, anybody here? I know I meant to return earlier, but life and my mind had other plans. Blogging and photo editing just haven’t held my interest even with my favorite topics.s However, I’ve been meaning to tie up loose ends, and I am hoping that this will generate enough momentum to continue this blog. I’m just gonna step back from the X Games recaps and “awards” (especially since I can’t watch as easily) to cover some other aspects of action sports. But loose ends first, you can revisit my previous X Games Austin 2016 recaps here and here.

The last day of X Games Austin 2016 was bittersweet. We knew it was the last day for X Games to be in Austin (at least in the near future), and rather than ending on a high note, the weather decided to be jerky in a different way. Despite the clear skies, the wind was too strong for Big Air. They waited to the last minute to make the announcement so you could tell that everybody wanted to make things work. I know people are angry about cancellations and the end of X Games’ contract with COTA, but I would rather the athletes be safe and able to do what they came out to do.

BMX Dirt

First runs were pretty solid for most of the guys. Second and third runs had them taking more risks.

That led to TJ Ellis hurting his shoulder. Mike “Hucker” Clark ran down the ramp to check on him. I thought that was pretty cool since it’s a long way down and he was up not too long afterward. See, Hucker did not run out of energy.

Kyle Baldock went HUGE but crashed out at the end.

The announcers kept mentioning how old Cory Nastazio is. It was supposed to emphasize what a legend he is, but it just sounded insulting.

Hello there, I’m back! My hiatus was unplanned with some unexpected life changes and the problem with my old editing program. However, I’ve got a new version of Paint Shop Pro, and I’m slowly trying to get back in the habit of blogging while handling increased work responsibilities. X Games Austin has come and gone, but we still have the memories so let’s revisit them, shall we?

I didn’t head to Austin until Friday due to work and lack of events prior to Friday afternoon, but I did catch Step Up and Flat-track on TV. So here were some of the things I noted.

Step Up

I was bummed to miss out on Step Up again since this year was Matt Buyten’s last. I’ve been following his career for more than 10 years, and he’s just an awesome guy. Unfortunately he got knocked out pretty early.

Bryce Hudson has “Soap Boy” on the back of his jersey, which was adorable.

It was interesting to see who was close friends with whom. The cameras kept showing Bryce and talking with Jarryd McNeil (and even giving him pointers) while Matt was chatting with Ronnie Renner a few times.

Matt and Ronnie’s friendship must be like a trip through the history of Step Up. Both guys have a ton of jumps under their belts.

I could not believe this was Jarryd’s first X Games Step-Up competition. He flew so high.

I was not a fan of the shared gold medals. While I understood the time limits with live TV, it felt SO anticlimactic. It would have been awesome to see how high Jarryd and Libor Podmol could have gone. I was stoked for both winners though.

Flat-track Racing

I didn’t get the hype over it. It’s just not as exciting as say, motocross. Also I don’t know why they didn’t have women’s racing too.

Tough luck for last year’s winner Bryan Smith. He crashed around the first turn and took another guy out. I thought he could gain some ground, but once you’re out, you’re out. The 20 laps went by super fast.

Redemption for Jared Mees was clearly the headline for the night.

After the weather (and my parents) threatened to make Austin a no-go, we made it and it was freakin’ hot and sunny. The earlier rain had made Dallas cooler so I thought it would be the same. Nope. I got to COTA as Skateboard Vert under way, and the skaters were flying high despite the heat.

Last year, I wrote a post about the physics behind a triple backflip in BMX. Well, as most of you know by now, Josh Sheehan has done a triple backflip on a dirt bike. If you haven’t seen the video, here it is:

Now that he’s done what we had thought would be the impossible (though we said that about the double before Travis did it), that leaves us with the question of whether there is a limit. Buzz Skyline did some calculations at his blog, eXtreme Sports Physics, and came up with a total of four flips.

Another physics blog, Physics Buzz, took a look at the front flip. While a backflip has the rider utilizing the bike’s natural momentum and the ramp’s angle (which shaves off half of the first rotation), a front flip combats those forces AND the landing is blind. As Jim DeChamp told ESPN, “[I]t’s not a natural beauty trick— it’s like, that is awkward, that is wrong.” The Physics Buzz post looks at both what happens when a front flip is executed properly and when things go wrong.

I’m pretty sure we’re not going to see a triple backflip in the X Games. The ramps just aren’t big enough. Who knows about the double backflip or the front flip, but my guess is that the new Quarterpipe event is going to take riders in the direction of off-axis flips and 360s. We’ll see.

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